


Super High School Level Assassin

by GemmaRose



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dangan Ronpa Fusion, Beating, Brutal Murder, Despair Era (Dangan Ronpa), Disassociation, Execution, Families of Choice, Gen, Illustrated, Killing School Life (Dangan Ronpa), Murder, Stabbing, Trials
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 02:36:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13848285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: Of all the things about being trapped in a murder house for a month, William really didn’t think that his least favourite would be the company.And yet.





	Super High School Level Assassin

A now-familiar bell drew his attention, and William sighed as he rose from his crouched position. That was all the evidence he’d be gathering today, he supposed. Hopefully the rest of these fuckers had grown brains sometime in the past hour or however the fuck long it had been.

“Ehhh, you’ve had enough practice with this by now, and I’m bored, so let’s get this show on the road.” the bear said over the PA, its voice as gratingly cheerful as ever. “All students, report to the trial room!”

“You don’t have to tell us every time, damn robot.” he grumbled, jamming his hands in his pockets as he stalked through the halls. The doors he found at the end were familiar, gaudy as all hell and with half his so-called classmates already assembled in front of them. The royal pain in the ass and his guard bitch were muttering to each other in their native language, and he briefly considered eavesdropping before discarding the idea. At their speed and volume, and how long it had been since he used that language, it’d be more effort than it was probably worth.

Across the room from them, the mechanic girl was leaning against the wall with a despondent expression on her face. Normally he’d take some pleasure in seeing a person brought so low, but that was when it was as a result of something he’d done. As it stood, it was just kinda pathetic. She hadn’t known those brainiac brothers any longer than the rest of them, and yet their deaths had reduced her to this? He turned away before he could open his mouth and say something stupid. Biasing his fellow jurors against himself would do nothing to help his life expectancy. Thankfully, the arrival of another pair of students gave him something else to focus on.

“Where’s the pyro?” he asked, and the Super High School Level Markswoman jabbed a thumb over her shoulder.

“Examining the crime scene one last time.”

Crime scene, as if the body lying in the auditorium wasn’t someone who’d been meant to be one of their classmates. Who’d almost been someone William would call a friend. Not for the first time, he entertained the thought that Hawkeye had been a child soldier somewhere before getting recruited. She certainly had the discipline of a soldier, and a sniper’s ability to detach herself from the situation while still handling it, but he was pretty sure he remembered seeing her name in a list of Olympic competitors at the last games, and child soldiers didn’t get sent to the Olympics. Not unless they were there to kill someone, at least, and the only assassination there had been his doing.

“I hope he’s not long.” the Super High School Level Swordsman said, his voice and eyes cold as both were directed at William. “The sooner we can have you put down for killing Tony the better.”

“Put me down and I’ll drag the rest of you with me.” he snapped, glaring daggers at the bastard Glut had been so insistent about befriending. Bradley scoffed, and turned to go loiter in his usual spot by the door.

“Riza!” Mustang jogged up, his jacket hanging from one pointlessly gloved hand. “You still have the stuff written on your pad, right?”

“Of course.” she frowned at him. “Why would I delete it?”

“Double-checking.” Mustang raised his hands.

“Where’s that damn bear?” Rockbell muttered, arms crossed over her stomach like she was trying not to hug herself. “I hate having to wait around here with Tony’s murderer.” she glared at him on the last word, and he flipped her off.

“He said he’d be right behind me.” Mustang frowned, looking back at the hallway.

“He’s just messing with us.” Yao grinned, thin and fake as hell. “Let’s all try to keep our heads until the trial, alright? It won’t be more than another minute or two until we’re let in, I’m sure.”

“If only I had your confidence.” Yao’s surly shadow muttered, dark eyes locked on William. “A criminal like him should never have been allowed to attend such a school as yourself.”

He flipped her off too.

“You’re right, though.” Bradley agreed.

“Which one of them?” Mustang asked, as if this was a perfect use of all their time.

“Both.” Bradley turned to glare at William. “Let’s keep our heads, so we can get this trial over with and the culprit duly executed. He got in on being a murderer, it’s time for him to finally face the music.”

Once again, William gave a one-finger salute.

“Will?” Mustang edged closer, and William glared at him.

“Go away.” he snarled. “I don’t need your _platitudes_.”

“Then how does some reassurement sound?”

“Like a word you just made up.” William scoffed, and Mustang rolled his eyes.

“You know, maybe people wouldn’t keep suspecting you if you lightened up once in a while.”

“Maybe you wouldn’t accuse me of murder if you had any fucking brains.” he spat back, biting down on the urge to yell that he _had_ lightened up, that the earlier days of their imprisonment had been some of the best of his godforsaken life. Instead he just seethed silently as Mustang gave him a frustratingly impassive look, swallowing the words before they could slip off his traitorous tongue. Vulnerability got you hurt, and it got other people killed to stop it from happening again. They would distrust him either way, so it was better not to let them know where best to dig the knife in when they turned on him next.

“I want to find out who killed Glut as much as the rest of you do.” he snarled instead, hands curling into fists at his sides. Hell, he probably wanted it more than the rest of them. Glut had been friendly to everyone, but William knew most of the others had considered the competitive eater a little bit weird. Even Bradley, who Glut had been so insistent on befriending and making part of ‘the crew’, had kept the guy at arm’s length. Had kept everyone at arm’s length, really.

His musings were interrupted by deceptively soft footsteps, and he lifted his head to glower at the two-toned stuffed bear. The key propped on its shoulder was as oversized as ever, and its smile set every last one of William’s hairs on end. Fuckin creepy-ass thing, he almost wished Hawkeye had let Mustang try setting it on fire, that first day. Monobear padded right up to the door, and smashed it open with the toothed end of the key. Time to get this over with.

William fell in line as they filed in, and looked over at Glut’s new memorial photo once he’d taken his podium. It was a nice picture, nicer than he’d ever seen the guy look in their time here. Something in his chest twinged painfully, and he directed his attention towards his living classmates. On his right, the prince and his bodyguard. Almost directly across from him, the swordsman. Just left of Bradley, or counter-clockwise he guessed would be more accurate, the pyro and sniper and engineer. Hawkeye’s hand lingered on Rockbell’s shoulder for a minute, the sniper saying something too softly for William to catch it, and then they were all at their podiums.

“Alright, you bastards!” Monobear’s too-cheerful voice rang out from its seat just beyond the ring of podiums. “You’ve done this enough to know the drill, but let’s have a refresher anyways since most of you are _morons_.”

William gritted his teeth, but resisted the urge to ask that they just get this shitshow on the road already. It was faster to just let the bear rant and then move on once it shut up.

“Your votes determine the outcome of this trial. Pick on the culprit, they pay for their crimes. Pick on one of your innocent classmates...” it paused, turning its head to look at each of them in turn. “And the rest of you get punished while they graduate!” it declared, throwing a paw in the air. “So, first on the agenda is...” it trailed off, and Rockbell slammed a hand on one of the side rails of her podium.

“We already know who the culprit is.” she snapped. “Glut was killed with one of William’s knives.”

“Can we really be sure of that?” Mustang asked, and Rockbell turned to glare at him. William raised an eyebrow.

“It was at the scene of the crime covered in blood.” Bradley said flatly. “I think we can be fairly certain that it was the murder weapon.”

“Additionally, all the wounds are of a size to have been inflicted by that knife.” the prince’s bodyguard added. “The many, many wounds...” she trailed off in a full-body shudder.

“Yeah, what was with all those anyway?” Yao asked, looking confused. “I mean, there’s got to be an easier way to kill someone with a knife than just hacking at them until you get lucky.”

“ _Thank_ you.” William huffed. “Can’t believe the only one with a brain here is _Yao_ of all people.”

“Actually...” Rockbell piped up. “Glut died quickly. The cuts on his neck were the only ones inflicted before he died.” she gestured to the sides of her neck, where someone had used William’s knife to slit Glut’s carotid on both sides.

“Which makes every other injury one inflicted for no reason other than the killer’s own personal pleasure.” Bradley sneered at him, and William bristled. He was a professional, dammit, he knew better than to toy with his victims. And even he didn’t desecrate corpses; that was just wrong.

“Or to hide the cause of death.” Hawkeye rebutted.

“Which is something a professional would think to do.” Yao’s eyes narrowed at William, cold and dangerous. “Just like wearing a glove to make sure they didn’t leave any fingerprints on the handle, or the body.”

“Like you have to be a pro to know leaving fingerprints is a dumb idea.” he snapped. “Any grade schooler who’s cracked open Baby’s First Murder Mystery knows that much.”

“Maybe so.” Hawkeye acknowledged. “But only a trained killer could possibly show the level of brutality Glut’s killer demonstrated. Distraction or not, those wounds were made by someone familiar with death.” her eyes bored into his, and he met them without flinching. “Someone with a severe lack of empathy.”

“Oh, like you’re one to talk, miss sniper.” he retorted. “In my experience, your job demands some damn low empathy. Picking out someone’s head, or their heart, and watching them drop when you stick a bullet in it.”

Hawkeye’s hands curled on the rail of her podium, and William grinned. Check. Now she had to defend her own innocence, and maybe in doing so she’d let something slide that he could use to prove he hadn’t killed Glut.

“Stop it!” Rockbell shouted. “Just, stop dammit. Stop pretending you’re innocent, stop pretending that anyone else in here could’ve killed him, and let us get to the damn voting already.” her shoulder shook, and she ducked her head with a small sob. “I just- I want this trial to be over. I want _today_ to be over.”

“You really want this to be over?” he asked, and waited until Rockbell looked up at him. “Then quit jumping to conclusions and use your goddamn brain.” he glared at the three to his left, the pair to his right, and then Bradley across the circle from him. “What motive could I _possibly_ have for killing Glut?” he challenged.

For a second the room was silent, then that damn bear started laughing softly as whispered conversations sprang up in both groups. Bradley, with nobody nearby to conspire with, simply glared at him.

“Isn’t it obvious?” the swordsman asked, lifting his chin imperiously. “You did it out of boredom.”

“Like hell I did!”

“But can we truly be certain of that?” the bodyguard asked, rhetorical question evident enough William didn’t bother trying to find an answer. “You routinely threaten violence against every one of us, including the Young Lord.”

“Usually with one of your knives, too.” Yao added.

“And we all know Glut was pushy and over-social.” Rockbell joined in. “It’s not hard at all to imagine that he pushed you too far and you snapped.”

“Well put, Miss Rockbell.” Bradley inclined his head to her minutely.

“I’ve snapped at him to shut up before.” William pointed out, his words acid 

“Only this time, he probably didn’t shut up.” Rockbell said, low and dangerous. “This time he kept pushing, so you killed him, and then-”

“I didn’t kill him!” William protested.

“You killed him, and then mutilated his corpse to make it look like an amateur job.” Bradley said, his voice even. “Who else here could do that but our very own serial murderer?”

“Oh, you can fuck _all the way_ off!” William snapped, slamming a hand down on his podium. “I’m sick and fucking tired of you shitheads calling me that. I’m not a murderer, I’m an _assassin_ , it’s right there on my ID. You know what that means?” he paused to snort, shaking his head. “What am I saying, obviously you don’t.” he fixed his gaze on Bradley, leaning forward over his podium. “As a professional assassin, I only kill people I’m _paid_ to kill, or people who’ve pissed me off enough to make my personal shit list. It’s not a long list, but if you chucklefucks keep accusing me of murders I _did not commit_ , one of you is going to disappear, and the rest of you will **never find the body**.”

An awkward silence hung over the room for one second, two, and then Monobear’s upupupu laughter filled the air.

“Spoken like a true killer!” the stuffed bear laughed, and William wilted. Fuck, of course they weren’t going to listen to logic and reason. He had to sink to their level, reveal some emotional weak point that’d convince them without leaving him _too_ vulnerable.

“Yeah, I am a killer.” he admitted, curing his fingers against the varnished wood of his podium and tilting his head forward so that a few locks of hair spilled from behind his shoulders to curtain his face. “I’m better at killing people than talking to them, but Glut never minded that.” he looked up, sweeping his gaze counter-clockwise over his remaining classmates and settling on Rockbell, the one who’d first accused him in this trial. “No amount of boredom in the world would’ve been enough to make me kill Glut.”

Rockbell’s eyes widened, and she slowly raised a hand to her mouth. “Oh.” she breathed, barely audible from his distance. “They were like family to you, weren’t they?”

Something twisted hot and tight in William’s chest, and he looked back down at his hands on his podium. He’d barely let himself think of his friends as such, and here Rockbell was airing it to their whole class. If he didn’t need them to trust he was telling the truth, he’d reject her outright.

“Reed, Solaris, Tony... they were family to you.” Rockbell said slowly. His gaze flicked to each portrait as she said their name, and he took a measured breath to stop himself from choking up. This was nothing to cry over, dammit. They were already dead, he’d known they would probably die long before they did, it shouldn’t sting this much.

“They were your family, and we accused you of killing all of them.” Rockbell sounded properly horrified now, and William swore he could see tears glinting in her eyes even at this distance.

“Well, shit.” Yao said.

Monobear cackled, and William’s head whipped up to focus on the source of the noise. “As charming as this sentimentality is, we’ve still got a trial to get through!” the bear declared. “So get back on topic, you little shits, before I decide to punish you all!” its voice jumped up to a roar for the last few words, and William startled just as badly as his classmates at the sudden volume spike.

“Alright, alright.” Mustang rubbed at one ear with a grimace. “We’ve covered the murder weapon, the scene of the crime was a common area so we don’t have to figure out how the killer got in... oh!” he turned to Hawkeye and Rockbell. “Time of death. You two agreed on that, right?”

“He was definitely killed last night.” Hawkeye replied.

“Early last night.” Winry concurred. “Not long after curfew, possibly even before, judging by how far the rigor mortis had progressed when we found him.”

“Why are we bothering with this?” the bodyguard huffed. “We all want this over, and we all know who the killer is, so let’s vote right now.”

“Ranfan!” Yao gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. “You can’t tell me you suspect William of killing his only remaining brother.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Ling does have a point.” Mustang sighed. “We still need to determine motive and opportunity before we can vote.”

“Let’s focus on opportunity for now.” Hawkeye said coolly. “Winry, if we could start with you and work clockwise?”

“Oh, sure.” Rockbell looked down at her podium with a small frown. “At curfew last night, I was in the kitchen getting some tea before bed.”

“I can corroborate.” Mustang nodded. “You left your cup on the counter when you went back to your room.”

“I would’ve washed it, but you were using the sink.” Rockbell huffed.

“Alright, that’s Winry settled.” Hawkeye laid a hand on the rail next to her podium. “Roy, care to elaborate on what you were doing with the sink?”

“What do you think?” the super high school level pyromaniac pulled out his shiny new lighter and opened it with a single smooth hand motion. “I misplaced my old one, so I was practicing with this.”

Hawkeye sighed, and William resisted the urge to facepalm. Fucking arsonists.

“Well, at least you were being safe about it.” she conceded. “As for myself, shortly before curfew last night I was in the library. Once curfew rang, I walked back to the dorms with Ranfan.”

“And after we parted ways in the dorm hallway, I went to say goodnight to the young lord.” the bodyguard inclined her head at Yao.

“Is that really admissible as evidence?” Bradley questioned.

“Can’t say it is.” William shook his head. “You two are too close for that.”

“I saw them, though.” Rockbell chimed in. “They were down the hall, but I saw Riza’s door close while Ranfan and Ling were talking.”

“Which leaves you two.” Mustang’s eyes flicked from William to Bradley, and William gritted his teeth.

“You bastard.” he snarled, fingers curling against his podium. “Glut trusted you!”

“I was doing my laundry last night.” Bradley held up a hand, showing off his crisp white glove. “You’re the one whose whereabouts we can’t account for.”

“We can’t account for yours either, Leroy.” Mustang said, eyes narrowed. “When was the last time you saw Tony?”

“After dinner, of course.”

“That can’t be right.” Ling frowned. “When Tony and I left the rec room he was headed to get his laundry and wash it.”

“We must have just missed each other.” Bradley said coolly, and William gritted his teeth. Murdering the bastard here and now was tempting, but it’d just get him killed.

“Unlikely.” Mustang was full-on frowning now, his eyes darker than usual. “Considering the fact that Ling and Tony were still in the rec room when I left to go practice with my lighter, and I saw you in the cafeteria on my way to the kitchen.”

Bradley’s eyes flew open, and William slammed the side of his fist against his podium. “Hey, Monobear!” he snapped, turning his head just enough to see the stuffed animal sitting atop its ridiculously tall chair. “Start the voting.”

The bear laughed, and a screen popped up in front of him with eight icons available to select. Himself, Glut, and the other six students gathered around this damned circle. He jabbed Bradley’s icon with his index finger viciously, and a few seconds later the bear laughed viciously. “Ding ding ding!” it jeered, pointing one fluffy paw at Bradley. “Cooorrect! Leroy Bradley is the guilty party. Now, it’s time for-”

“Wait!” William threw out a hand towards Monobear, getting the sadistic toy’s attention. “Before you kill him, I need to know.” he turned to Bradley, hands curling into fists against his podium. “Why Glut?”

Bradley stared back at him impassively, and William pressed his fists against the wooden stand to keep them from shaking. “Why him? He never did anything to you but try to be your friend.”

“He stuck his nose where it didn’t belong.”

William lifted one of his fists and slammed it against the top of the podium hard enough he thought he might’ve dented the wood or broken something in his hand. “Bullshit!” he itched to vault the damn podium and punch Bradley right in his stupid face, but the distance was too great. 

“Upupupupupu... are you sure?” Monobear laughed as it walked over to where Bradley stood. “This one’s done some baaaad” things.

“Coming from you, that’s saying something.” Mustang deadpanned.

“What sort of things?” Ling asked, and the bear’s face split in an unnaturally wide grin, sharp teeth glinting in the light.

“Well, for starters...”

“They don’t need to know that.” Bradley said sharply, turning away from them and towards the hallway that lead down to the execution chamber. “All they need to know is that I work for you, I killed for you, and I was willing to frame Mustang for you.”

“You were going to what?!” Mustang exclaimed.

“If you lot hadn’t cooperated with the next prompt, my orders were to frame you, Mustang, for the murder of either Hawkeye or Rockbell. Whoever was more convenient.”

William whistled a low note. “Well, that’s more fucked up than I could ever hope to be.”

“And he did it all for lo~ve.” Monobear sang mockingly, jumping up on the rail of Bradley’s podium and reaching out to pat the swordsman’s cheek. “One little promise of seeing his girlfriend again and he was willing to turn each and every one of your against each other.” the bear laughed, unsettling and more than a little unhinged, and William shuddered.

“You’re insane.” the bodyguard said, and the bear laughed louder for a second before snapping its head down to almost leer at her.

“You _wish_.”

“Regardless.” Bradley started towards the doors, which opened as he approached. “I’ve been found guilty, which makes this game over for both of us.”

“Ah, yes. Time for your punishment!” the bear cheered, and William startled slightly at a hand on his elbow.

“We should follow them.” Rockbell said, her expression uneasy but resolute. “If it’s game over for the bear too, maybe we’ll get to leave.”

“Maybe.” William agreed, and let himself be pulled down the hall after Yao and his bodyguard. Mustang and Hawkeye followed behind them, and William found himself leaning into Rockbell’s near-bruising grip on his arm. Bradley was an ass, but he’d been the kind of friend William was familiar with. With Glut dead and Bradley about to follow... he’d been a loner all his life, it shouldn’t hurt to think he’d go back to being one once they got out of here.

The chain link fence which separated the viewing area from the execution area was the same as ever, and William watched as Bradley stopped in the gateway to fish something from the back of Monobear’s head.

“Mustang, catch.” Bradley lobbed the mystery object at the pyro, and William tilted his head slightly as he got a better look at it. It was a boxy looking thing, with a single massive button on the front and a near-comical antenna sticking out of the top. Considering the entire front face was painted with black and yellow caution stripes, save for the big red button, it was easily the most cartoony looking remote he’d ever seen.

“Is this-”

“Game over. You win.” Bradley turned, picked up Monobear under one arm, and walked out towards the center of the execution area. “I’ll face my punishment with dignity.”

Monobear’s light-up eye flashed brighter, and William sucked a breath in through his teeth as the stuffed bear spun out of Bradley’s grip in a whirl of red. Monobear landed on its feet, demented grin firmly in place and blood dripping from its newly unsheathed claws. Claws which had utterly shredded Bradley’s arm and a decent chunk of his side. The swordsman laughed, a dry and humourless sound, and raised his hand to catch a sword thrown at him by one of what must’ve been dozens of enemies meandering in.

At first glance the members of the mob were identical, but as they approached and formed a ring around Bradley William noticed that only their outfits were uniform. Shirts and pants split down the middle, black and white just like the monobear-styled heads they wore, but draped over bodies of varying height and build. Their weaponry wasn’t uniform either, but every sword and bat and crowbar had one thing in common. They all looked a hell of a lot more sturdy than the weapon in Bradley’s hand.

“We should leave.” the bodyguard said, reaching out to grip Yao’s elbow.

“No.” William found himself saying. “We see it through, like we did all the others’.”

“After that, though, we run.” Hawkeye said firmly, her tone leaving no room for argument.

“Of course.” Yao agreed.

“Will?” Rockbell tugged on his arm.

“Yeah?”

“You heard that, right?”

“Once Bradley falls, we get the hell out of here.”

“Good to know we’re all on the same page.” Mustang muttered.

William tuned them all out, and focused on Bradley. The swordsman was standing ready, both hands gripping the hilt of his shitty sword, and Monobear was still fucking smiling. He hated that fucking smile, it made him feel cold straight to the core and sent dread creeping up his spine. There was something not quite right about it, he couldn’t put his finger on what exactly but _something_ was off in a way that screamed danger.

Bradley lunged first, sword flashing out at the mob surrounding him, and the answering roar was both immediate and blood-curdling. William had been in some of the worst shitholes on the continent, if not the planet; he’d toured active warzones, infiltrated militia compounds, walked through riots made up of people angry enough to tear down cities with their bare hands. None of it compared to the absolutely feral _joy_ in those entirely-too-human voices as they converged on Bradley. Or, well, tried to converge. Somehow he was managing to hold them off with his shitty sword, bringing them down with sprays of garish blood across their two-toned shirts.

Monobear leapt up out of the fray, blood-tipped claws shining cold and deadly, and Bradley followed with a shout of something that was lost to the baying of the mob. His sword flashed out against Monobear’s head, Monobear’s claws sliced down at Bradley’s torso, and the sound of breaking metal rang clear through the room. A piercing sound of anguish followed, and the mob surged in towards Bradley, the sound of flesh impacting flesh rising over the roar of the mob, followed shortly by breaking bones and screams of pain.

The screaming cut off abruptly, and as the mob grew silent they backed away from Bradley. Or, what was left of Bradley. An acrid smell reached his nose, and it took far too long to identify the smell of vomit. Everything seemed distant, somehow, as if he was looking through a poorly focused lense which could only hold Bradley’s mutilated corpse in proper focus. Bradley was dead. Glut’s killer was dead. He should’ve felt happy, or vindicated, or relieved, or anything at all, but he just felt empty. Something closed on his shoulder, pulling him back, and he stumbled a few steps before pivoting on his heel to see Rockbell’s wide blue eyes.

“William, we need to go!” her voice cut through the haze, the world snapping back into something close to proper focus. The mob was riling itself up again, turning away from Bradley’s body so their oversized Monobear heads were angled at the fence. The flimsy chain link fence which could so easily be scaled or beaten down, which was even now shaking at the mob approached it. His head was yanked back around to look at Rockbell, and he nodded. She dragged him forward by the wrist, and he didn’t fight it.

The haze was coming back, eating at the edges of his vision and muffling his other senses. He easily kept pace with Rockbell back to the trial room, out into the hall, and down towards the front doors. The corridors blurred into each other, but something made him slow as they passed the intersection that lead to the dorms. “My stuff.” he mumbled, but Rockbell’s momentum forced him to keep moving.

“No time.” she insisted, dragging him down the hall towards the doors. “And don’t go whining, you’re not leaving behind a month’s worth of prototypes and blueprints.”

Irritation sparked in his chest, and as they came in view of the entrance William yanked his wrist free. “Why do you care?” he spat, skidding to a stop. The haze was fading now, and he realized his heart was pounding. Damn, he should’ve spent more time in the gym. “You’ve wanted me dead ever since you found out why I got accepted here.”

“Do we have to do this now?” Rockbell snapped, and irritation flared into anger so hot it burnt the haze away entirely, leaving everything painfully sharp. Pain was familiar, he knew how to deal with pain.

“Why are you doing this?” he demanded, and Rockbell let out a strangled, half-muffled scream as she curled her fingers into claws in front of her face.

“Because you’re my classmate!” she yelled, grabbing the front of his shirt roughly. “Because you’re no older than me, and you just lost _everything_ , and I know how that feels!” she yanked, pulling him forward while her words had him off-balance. “And I’m _not_ going to let you die.” she insisted, dragging him to where the rest of their peers were clustered in the open doorway.

Mustang was fiddling with his lighter, Hawkeye had a pistol in her hands, and Yao was trying to get his bodyguard to give him one of the wickedly sharp daggers she’d produced from... somewhere, he’d never been able to get an accurate read on her. Rockbell slowed to a stop before crashing into them, and William took one look at the desolate grounds outside before drawing one of his own knives. If Rockbell wanted to be his handler, that put him in charge of protecting her. At least until she got a weapon of her own to protect herself from whatever had happened out here.

“Where are we going?” he asked nobody in particular.

“Not sure.” Mustang admitted, stepping out into the courtyard with Hawkeye half a step behind him on his right. “But we stick together.”

**Author's Note:**

> Art by the wonderful [kyanve](http://kyanve.tumblr.com/post/171469456013/) on tumblr.


End file.
